Sponsored App Review: FxGuru

We all know how we can change the look of the photos we take with our smartphones, Instagram and pretty much every other app on the Play Store will give us filters and effects. “Editing” our photos in this manner has gotten pretty popular and it’s definitely caught on but, what about video? There was once a time when recording video on a cell phone was an incredible achievement but now we seems to have forgotten that a little bit. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could enhance our videos in the same way we can our photos? With FxGuru you can, read on to find out how and if this app is one for you.

Description: FxGuru is an application that hopes to rekindle our love of home movies, with a whole host of special effects to choose from, this might be the app to get us filming again. Taking video with smartphones has gotten a lot better over the years but subject matter is a problem at times, with FxGuru you can add all the effects you could ever want, from UFOs to explosive action effects there’s something we all want to watch. Thanks to the proprietary MotionMatch technology there’s natural movement throughout videos you take as well. You can take a look at the video below for more info, and you can always head over to the FxGuru website to get more of a feel for the app.

How it Works: To get started on creating your masterpieces all you have to do is go ahead and download the app from the Play Store and launch it. After that you’ll be taken through to the main menu.

It’s a real nice layout for the app and it’s easy to navigate, the best way to explain FxGuru is to show what it can do. So, let’s go ahead and hit the big “start” button shall we?

When you hit the start button, you’ll be given the list of effects that you can choose from, which is a whole lot of them. The effects that have golden borders around them are free effects. Let’s go ahead and take a look at the UFO Arrival effect. When filming the effect you need to place the red outline when you want the effect to be overlaid, my One X didn’t want me to show you this, no matter how many shots I took but, with this screenshot you get the idea:

While the video is processing it’ll show you other effects that the app has to offer as well:

Here in sleepy England, there’s not a lot that happens and in my small village there’s even less so, a UFO visit would be a big thing right? Well take a look…

Of course this would look better with some more inviting lighting but on a typical English gloomy day I think the effect works really well and having clips at 15 seconds will really have you thinking about cool things to do. If I’m honest, I found taking my first video with these effects a lot of fun, and if you want to buy more of them they don’t cost too much for each new effect. If you want to learn more on the app or to see more of it in action then head over to the FxGuru website.

Opinion: This is a really fun app to play with. Not only that but there is some serious power involved in this app, to be able to overlay effects like that so cleanly is pretty impressive, especially when you consider that these effects are being handled by our phones. There are a lot of effects to choose from and if you get a real taste for the app you can always download the megapack saving some money in the process. FxGuru is one of the few applications that lets you have fun with your videos like you would with your photos and it’s about time that someone offered something like this. The application is wrapped up nicely and is very easy to use as well.

Ratings

Speed (4/5) – I had no issues with the app but it was a little clunky and I have a quad-core One X so your mileage may vary on other phones but there were no crashes or anything like that. FxGuru can be ran on phones running anything right down to Android 2.2 and while it can be very clunky, there’s a hell of a lot going on behind the scenes.

Features (4/5) – FxGuru is packed with fun effects to put on your videos and with a great interface it’s a pleasure to use, it certainly does the job well.

Theme (5/5) – This app has a great look and feel to it, with simple to follow instructions and a clear layout of the effects and more.

Overall (4.5/5) – I wish it were a little faster and less resource hungry but overall this is a brilliant app and one you can have a lot of fun with.

Pros

Great interface design, is easy to follow and works very well.

Lots of effects to choose from.

Very easy to share your creation to friends, family or just YouTube.

Really does what it sets out to do.

Cons

Can be a little clunky at times.

Conclusion: There’s so much to love about FxGuru that it’s perhaps best if you took a look at the app yourself and take some videos. I had a lot of fun taking some footage with alien arrivals and I’m sure that creative types will be able to really make something fun out of their videos. To me it’s still pretty surprising that such an app is usable on our smartphones, these phones we carry with us can do more than we ever thought possible and processing video effects like this is something we used to leave to high-end PCs. FxGuru is one of those apps that you need to try to see what it’s all about and when you do, you’ll not be disappointed. Go on and give it a try!